Just one other incident to share and then I will stop. But it spoke to us of real community in the church and these days that seems so rare too much of the time.
One winter there was very little construction work available in our area. It effected us and also 2 other couples we were close to. We all had small children; in fact one of the couples had just had triplets. So there we were: 6 adults with 8 children to provide for, and not enough work. Well, it was an amazing winter. The 3 men covenanted together to share any and all income equally between the 3 families. When one man got a job, either all 3 men worked together on it, or if that wasn't possible the man who did the job split the paycheques 3 ways. Our job as wives, we decided, was to stay home with the kids and pray together each day for the guys. We split employment earnings, personal gifts, groceries, vehicle gas; you name it and we shared it between us all winter long. As a result our families survived the winter. Just at the end of that time, right before construction jobs opened up again, I was visiting at the home of one of the couples. The man of the house opened up his wallet and said he had made $30 that morning milking cows and so here was our $10 share. I was touched that even though we were all starting to get work he would make this last contribution to our original agreement. So we prayed together and I asked that the Lord return to the man 100 fold what he had just given to me. A few minutes later a car drove up, a man hopped out and ran to the door. He told my friend he had been looking for him for several days because he owed him money from a job long ago and was convicted because he hadn't paid my friend properly. Yup, he paid him $100 right then and there. Is God's provision always so spectacular? Nope! But he always finds ways and circumstances to let us know he is in charge of our provision. It builds our trust in him. It takes fear away when times are tough. It isn't easy to blog about things like this because it may make my blog come across like the poorly written personal testimony books that I so despised in the 1970's, many of which were later proven to be fraudulent. But that aside, I am so thrilled by the goodness of God. Finances have been our arena of greatest testing but there has always been a way through and past and around as soon as we have been able to admit we need God. We haven't been able to do it ourselves. Other people have other areas of constant testing. Financial disaster due to ill health has been ours. Maybe our experiences will be of help to someone else and maybe not, but remembering and recording God's faithfulness helps me a lot as I face the future.
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